**Quotes are from the Chicago Sports Guys and the Online Sidelines' exclusive interview with Royce White**
If you think you know Royce White, you don’t.
To be at the point now –where White will almost certainly be drafted to an NBA team on June 28th– is nothing short of a miracle. White’s pursuit of an NBA career got off to a rocky start, to say the least.
The Minneapolis native decided to stay home and attend the University of Minnesota. The 35th ranked recruit in the nation according to ESPN was expected to bring a winning culture to the Golden Gophers. Unfortunately for White, he never even stepped on the court for Minnesota.
After being involved in an incident at the Mall of America, he was suspended for the entire 2009-10 season. Shortly after, White was accused of laptop theft at a University of Minnesota dorm. He then decided to transfer from the Twin Cities. Although his time at Minnesota was short-lived and controversial, he learned a lot from the experience.
“I learned to trust myself and to trust in what I believe in, and to stand for what I stand for, no matter what,” White said. “The biggest thing I took from (the situation in Minnesota) was that I was neglecting certain parts of who I was. I was making my life all about basketball and that didn’t balance, and it created some issues, just like it would create issues for anybody.”
White needed a second chance and got one in the form of Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg. At a time where White’s reputation had been tarnished, Hoiberg and Iowa State took him in, a decision Hoiberg wouldn’t regret.
Although he was not eligible to play for the Cyclones until the 2011-12 season, White played like a seasoned veteran right off the bat. Earning the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year award, White had high expectations, and boy, did he live up to the hype.
White became the first Cyclone since his coach Fred Hoiberg to lead Iowa State in points, rebounds and assists. He was also the only Division I player to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He finished second in the Big 12 in rebounding (averaging 9.3 a game) and field goal percentage (53.4 percent). White was also second in the nation in assists per game (5.1) among non-guards. He unanimously earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and made the All-Big 12 First team by the Associated Press. Most importantly, he did all of this while winning.
White led Iowa State to a 23-11 overall record and a 12-6 record in the Big 12 (tied for third best in the conference). The year before, Iowa State finished 3-13 in the Big 12, good for last place in the conference. He also led the Cyclones to an NCAA tournament victory (its first since the 2004-2005 season) over the Connecticut Huskies (the defending champions). Iowa State met its end in the next round at the hands of Anthony Davis and the national champion Kentucky Wildcats. Despite winning a tournament game, White had a different favorite victory.
“I would say my favorite game to play in was probably when we played Kansas,” White said. “I feel like it meant the most to the people here in Ames, and the community here in Ames, because it has been so long since we had beaten them. They kinda run our conference, being in the Big 12, so you know, that win meant a lot to me because it meant a lot to the community here.”
After experiencing a magical season at Iowa State, White declared for the 2012 NBA Draft.
“Definitely one of (the reasons for leaving) was the type of season that I had this year, and measuring up against the other players that were probably going to be declaring for the draft," White said. "My NCAA tournament games against six or seven of the top draft picks this year definitely helped me know that I could make that jump if I wanted to. There are certain things I want to achieve and that I want to do that the NCAA just doesn’t allow its athletes to do. I wanted to get away from that and really be able to knock some of my long term goals out.”
Even after the season he had at Iowa State, question marks remained among NBA personnel regarding White's character. The biggest red flag for NBA teams, aside from his past legal troubles, has been his well-documented anxiety disorder. White’s struggle with anxiety disorder has coincided with his fear of flying. Being on an NBA team requires taking flights with regularity. He has decided to be vocal about his anxiety disorder despite it being a negative among NBA annals. White is more concerned about spreading awareness about mental illnesses than what the NBA thinks about him.
“I think that people should know to not be afraid to confront or communicate your mental illnesses based on what other people will perceive them as,” White said. “For me, on this venture to the NBA, I decided to deal with it, just because I think that it will help. Whether or not it is a liability to others is really not important, and that is kinda how I feel about my own disorder is that I’m going to communicate openly and confront my disorder, and also try and help others, because I think we need that, and I think we need each other.”
White views his anxiety disorder as an impediment to his NBA career for different reasons than you’d think.
“I think (the anxiety disorder) is a hindrance because the people that make the decisions for the NBA don’t understand it,” White said. “In life, its not a hindrance, actually, its just the body’s way of fighting off threats that may be present, and sometimes anxiety can cause you to be prepared to fight off a threat even when you don’t need to. At the same time, its just a survival system. That survival system can be looked at as a liability in terms of the way that the NBA looks at it.”
That’s one thing you’ll learn about White; he doesn’t care what people think. He isn’t trying to make people like him; he’s just living his life. What you see is what you get. He thinks this whole anxiety disorder dilemma has been so overblown to the point where he might not even get drafted come next Thursday.
“You know, lately, I’ve been seeing myself not getting drafted,” White said. “My own personal belief – I do think that we are at a place right now, industrially and socially, where we are not ready to talk about mental illness, and we are not ready to admit the effects, and admit how prevalent it is in our community. And because of that, it wouldn’t surprise me to not get drafted. I can see (my anxiety disorder) dropping me all the way out of the draft completely.”
After leaving Minnesota with a bitter taste, White hopes the Timberwolves give him another chance.
“Definitely the community there, I grew up watching the Timberwolves play,” White said. “Obviously (I’d want to play for Minnesota), and I always was a Timberwolves fan, and Minnesota sports fan in general. To be able to go back to that community, especially after what happened at the U of M, and be able to fulfill that desire to play in front of those people that kinda helped me become who I am, that would definitely fill a big void for me."
The Timberwolves, or any NBA team for that matter, could use a player of White’s skill level. His unselfishness, paired with Ricky Rubio’s, could become a deadly one-two punch.
“I’m really unselfish,” White said. “I’m an unselfish player, as I am an unselfish man, and I think that that culture is really good for teams. I think we saw it last year with the Dallas Mavericks and great teams in the past, that sacrificing your own achievement or personal goals for the betterment of the group is always the way to success.”
Some players model their games after star players such as LeBron James, Michael Jordan, etc. White, like in most areas of his life, is different.
“I model my game more after basketball philosophy than basketball players,” White said. “Things like chemistry, flow, camaraderie, all those philosophies are things that I model my game after, and kinda be a player of cerebral nature.”
Even after a season where White led his team in all five of the major statistical categories, he still believes he needs to work on his entire repertoire.
“I think in my personal belief, if you haven’t perfected something, then it’s a weakness,” White said. “So, literally, I would argue that I have to work on everything. You don’t want to stop practicing shooting jump shots until you’re 100 percent, and you will never be 100 percent, so you want to always continue to work at everything you do. But if there is one thing that I would specify, it would be jump shooting, just because it’s been a long time since I tried to refine that part of my game.”
When he's not working on improving his game, White enjoys writing and literature. Yep you read that correctly, writing and literature.
“I’m really a writer by craft,” White said. “I love to write. I grew up very into literature and reading. My mother kept books around me. I didn’t have a TV in my room, which allowed me to get a sense of writing, and literature, and communication, rhetoric, and those kinds of things. That’s definitely a part of me."
Along with his interests in writing and literature, White is a huge Beatles fan. John Lennon actually helped inspire his grizzly beard
“I’m a big Beatles fan,” White said. “I grew up around my grandmother just as much as my own mother. She took care of me a lot, and she was a big Beatles fan. I started to research the philosophy of John Lennon and the things that he stood for and I fell in love with who he was, even though he was before my time. I’m just taking a liking to what it is that he stood for as a human being.”
Royce White is as big of an enigma as the basketball world has ever seen. On one hand, he’s a kid who’s dealt with legal problems, anxiety disorder and questions about his character in the past. On the other hand, he’s a person that has exercised his demons and possesses a unique skill-set for a six-foot-eight power forward. In only one season of college basketball he re-wrote Iowa State’s record books.
On June 28th, nobody knows when White will be drafted. ESPN’s Chad Ford and Draft Express have White being selected 23rd overall by the Atlanta Hawks. Stat guru John Hollinger has him ranked tenth. White himself is starting to believe he won’t be drafted at all.
Even if by some off chance White doesn’t get drafted, basketball isn’t everything to him.
“I’m just ready to become a professional in a sense of life, even outside of basketball.”
If you think you know Royce White, you don’t.
To be at the point now –where White will almost certainly be drafted to an NBA team on June 28th– is nothing short of a miracle. White’s pursuit of an NBA career got off to a rocky start, to say the least.
The Minneapolis native decided to stay home and attend the University of Minnesota. The 35th ranked recruit in the nation according to ESPN was expected to bring a winning culture to the Golden Gophers. Unfortunately for White, he never even stepped on the court for Minnesota.
After being involved in an incident at the Mall of America, he was suspended for the entire 2009-10 season. Shortly after, White was accused of laptop theft at a University of Minnesota dorm. He then decided to transfer from the Twin Cities. Although his time at Minnesota was short-lived and controversial, he learned a lot from the experience.
“I learned to trust myself and to trust in what I believe in, and to stand for what I stand for, no matter what,” White said. “The biggest thing I took from (the situation in Minnesota) was that I was neglecting certain parts of who I was. I was making my life all about basketball and that didn’t balance, and it created some issues, just like it would create issues for anybody.”
White needed a second chance and got one in the form of Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg. At a time where White’s reputation had been tarnished, Hoiberg and Iowa State took him in, a decision Hoiberg wouldn’t regret.
Although he was not eligible to play for the Cyclones until the 2011-12 season, White played like a seasoned veteran right off the bat. Earning the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year award, White had high expectations, and boy, did he live up to the hype.
White became the first Cyclone since his coach Fred Hoiberg to lead Iowa State in points, rebounds and assists. He was also the only Division I player to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He finished second in the Big 12 in rebounding (averaging 9.3 a game) and field goal percentage (53.4 percent). White was also second in the nation in assists per game (5.1) among non-guards. He unanimously earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and made the All-Big 12 First team by the Associated Press. Most importantly, he did all of this while winning.
White led Iowa State to a 23-11 overall record and a 12-6 record in the Big 12 (tied for third best in the conference). The year before, Iowa State finished 3-13 in the Big 12, good for last place in the conference. He also led the Cyclones to an NCAA tournament victory (its first since the 2004-2005 season) over the Connecticut Huskies (the defending champions). Iowa State met its end in the next round at the hands of Anthony Davis and the national champion Kentucky Wildcats. Despite winning a tournament game, White had a different favorite victory.
“I would say my favorite game to play in was probably when we played Kansas,” White said. “I feel like it meant the most to the people here in Ames, and the community here in Ames, because it has been so long since we had beaten them. They kinda run our conference, being in the Big 12, so you know, that win meant a lot to me because it meant a lot to the community here.”
After experiencing a magical season at Iowa State, White declared for the 2012 NBA Draft.
“Definitely one of (the reasons for leaving) was the type of season that I had this year, and measuring up against the other players that were probably going to be declaring for the draft," White said. "My NCAA tournament games against six or seven of the top draft picks this year definitely helped me know that I could make that jump if I wanted to. There are certain things I want to achieve and that I want to do that the NCAA just doesn’t allow its athletes to do. I wanted to get away from that and really be able to knock some of my long term goals out.”
Even after the season he had at Iowa State, question marks remained among NBA personnel regarding White's character. The biggest red flag for NBA teams, aside from his past legal troubles, has been his well-documented anxiety disorder. White’s struggle with anxiety disorder has coincided with his fear of flying. Being on an NBA team requires taking flights with regularity. He has decided to be vocal about his anxiety disorder despite it being a negative among NBA annals. White is more concerned about spreading awareness about mental illnesses than what the NBA thinks about him.
“I think that people should know to not be afraid to confront or communicate your mental illnesses based on what other people will perceive them as,” White said. “For me, on this venture to the NBA, I decided to deal with it, just because I think that it will help. Whether or not it is a liability to others is really not important, and that is kinda how I feel about my own disorder is that I’m going to communicate openly and confront my disorder, and also try and help others, because I think we need that, and I think we need each other.”
White views his anxiety disorder as an impediment to his NBA career for different reasons than you’d think.
“I think (the anxiety disorder) is a hindrance because the people that make the decisions for the NBA don’t understand it,” White said. “In life, its not a hindrance, actually, its just the body’s way of fighting off threats that may be present, and sometimes anxiety can cause you to be prepared to fight off a threat even when you don’t need to. At the same time, its just a survival system. That survival system can be looked at as a liability in terms of the way that the NBA looks at it.”
That’s one thing you’ll learn about White; he doesn’t care what people think. He isn’t trying to make people like him; he’s just living his life. What you see is what you get. He thinks this whole anxiety disorder dilemma has been so overblown to the point where he might not even get drafted come next Thursday.
“You know, lately, I’ve been seeing myself not getting drafted,” White said. “My own personal belief – I do think that we are at a place right now, industrially and socially, where we are not ready to talk about mental illness, and we are not ready to admit the effects, and admit how prevalent it is in our community. And because of that, it wouldn’t surprise me to not get drafted. I can see (my anxiety disorder) dropping me all the way out of the draft completely.”
After leaving Minnesota with a bitter taste, White hopes the Timberwolves give him another chance.
“Definitely the community there, I grew up watching the Timberwolves play,” White said. “Obviously (I’d want to play for Minnesota), and I always was a Timberwolves fan, and Minnesota sports fan in general. To be able to go back to that community, especially after what happened at the U of M, and be able to fulfill that desire to play in front of those people that kinda helped me become who I am, that would definitely fill a big void for me."
The Timberwolves, or any NBA team for that matter, could use a player of White’s skill level. His unselfishness, paired with Ricky Rubio’s, could become a deadly one-two punch.
“I’m really unselfish,” White said. “I’m an unselfish player, as I am an unselfish man, and I think that that culture is really good for teams. I think we saw it last year with the Dallas Mavericks and great teams in the past, that sacrificing your own achievement or personal goals for the betterment of the group is always the way to success.”
Some players model their games after star players such as LeBron James, Michael Jordan, etc. White, like in most areas of his life, is different.
“I model my game more after basketball philosophy than basketball players,” White said. “Things like chemistry, flow, camaraderie, all those philosophies are things that I model my game after, and kinda be a player of cerebral nature.”
Even after a season where White led his team in all five of the major statistical categories, he still believes he needs to work on his entire repertoire.
“I think in my personal belief, if you haven’t perfected something, then it’s a weakness,” White said. “So, literally, I would argue that I have to work on everything. You don’t want to stop practicing shooting jump shots until you’re 100 percent, and you will never be 100 percent, so you want to always continue to work at everything you do. But if there is one thing that I would specify, it would be jump shooting, just because it’s been a long time since I tried to refine that part of my game.”
When he's not working on improving his game, White enjoys writing and literature. Yep you read that correctly, writing and literature.
“I’m really a writer by craft,” White said. “I love to write. I grew up very into literature and reading. My mother kept books around me. I didn’t have a TV in my room, which allowed me to get a sense of writing, and literature, and communication, rhetoric, and those kinds of things. That’s definitely a part of me."
Along with his interests in writing and literature, White is a huge Beatles fan. John Lennon actually helped inspire his grizzly beard
“I’m a big Beatles fan,” White said. “I grew up around my grandmother just as much as my own mother. She took care of me a lot, and she was a big Beatles fan. I started to research the philosophy of John Lennon and the things that he stood for and I fell in love with who he was, even though he was before my time. I’m just taking a liking to what it is that he stood for as a human being.”
Royce White is as big of an enigma as the basketball world has ever seen. On one hand, he’s a kid who’s dealt with legal problems, anxiety disorder and questions about his character in the past. On the other hand, he’s a person that has exercised his demons and possesses a unique skill-set for a six-foot-eight power forward. In only one season of college basketball he re-wrote Iowa State’s record books.
On June 28th, nobody knows when White will be drafted. ESPN’s Chad Ford and Draft Express have White being selected 23rd overall by the Atlanta Hawks. Stat guru John Hollinger has him ranked tenth. White himself is starting to believe he won’t be drafted at all.
Even if by some off chance White doesn’t get drafted, basketball isn’t everything to him.
“I’m just ready to become a professional in a sense of life, even outside of basketball.”
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